The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Director:

Tay Garnett

Writers:

Harry Ruskin (screenplay) and
Niven Busch (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 May 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Their Love was a Flame that Destroyed!

Plot:

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband... but even once the deed is done, they must live with the consequences of their actions.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Sexuality | Gold Digger | Drifter | Pregnancy

Cast

Lana Turner	...	Cora Smith
John Garfield	...	Frank Chambers
Cecil Kellaway	...	Nick Smith
Hume Cronyn	...	Arthur Keats
Leon Ames	...	Kyle Sackett
Audrey Totter	...	Madge Gorland
Alan Reed	...	Ezra Liam Kennedy
Jeff York	...	Blair
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philip Ahlm	...	Photographer (uncredited)
John Alban	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Morris Ankrum	...	Judge (uncredited)
King Baggot	...	Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Betty Blythe	...	Customer (uncredited)
Paul Bradley	...	Man (uncredited)
Wally Cassell	...	Ben (uncredited)
Jack Chefe	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Dick Crockett	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Oliver Cross	...	Man (uncredited)
James Darrell	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Tom Dillon	...	Father McConnell (uncredited)
Edward Earle	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Jim Farley	...	Warden (uncredited)
Byron Foulger	...	Picnic Manager (uncredited)
Joel Friedkin	...	John X. McHugh (uncredited)
A. Cameron Grant	...	Willie (uncredited)
William Halligan	...	Judge (uncredited)
Bud Harrison	...	Bailiff (uncredited)
Paul Kruger	...	Officer (uncredited)
Frank Mayo	...	Bailiff (uncredited)
Helen McLeod	...	Customer (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Sandra Morgan	...	Matron (uncredited)
George Noisom	...	Telegraph messenger (uncredited)
Garry Owen	...	Truck Driver (uncredited)
Dorothy Phillips	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Dan Quigg	...	Man (uncredited)
Virginia L. Randolph	...	Snooty Woman (uncredited)
Paula Ray	...	Woman (uncredited)
Hilda Rhodes	...	Customer (uncredited)
Walter Ridge	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Edward Sherrod	...	Man (uncredited)
Reginald Simpson	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Brick Sullivan	...	Officer (uncredited)
John M. Sullivan	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Charles Williams	...	Doctor (uncredited)

Directed by
Tay Garnett

Writing credits
Harry Ruskin		(screenplay) and
Niven Busch		(screenplay)
James M. Cain		(novel)

Produced by
Carey Wilson	....	producer

Original Music by
George Bassman
Eric Zeisl		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Sidney Wagner		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
George White

Art Direction by
Randall Duell
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup designer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bill Lewis	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Irene	....	costume supervisor
Marion Herwood Keyes	....	associate costume supervisor
Helen Scovil	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Music Department
Ted Duncan	....	orchestrator

Production Companies

• Loew's (produced by) (as Loew's Incorporated)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (presents)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1946) (USA) (theatrical) (as Metro Goldwyn Mayer)
• Rosebud (2005) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:18A (video rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #11240) | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1996)

Filming Locations:

Norwalk Train Station, Norwalk, California, USA

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

It took 12 years to adapt the explicit material (by 1940 standards) of the novel into a screenplay tame enough to comply with the Production Code prevalent at the time.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the start of the film, as the car rolls down the hill before Frank gets out, you can clearly see the crew's reflection in the side paneling of the car.

Quotes:

Frank Chambers: I can sell anything to anybody.
Cora Smith: That's what you think.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Exhumed (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

She's Funny That Way

Weak-ish Noir

This film has all the ingredients of classic noir without actually being a very good movie.

The biggest problem I had with the film was that the characters are an unconvincing blend of naivety and cunning. One minute they're suckered by an old man running a burger bar, the next they're foiling a blackmail plot hatched by corrupt lawmen and wielding guns like they're hardened gangsters.

The ending is equally unconvincing, with the protagonist happily latching onto his death sentence as some kind of salvation that gives him moral certainty in the amoral noir world he's been floundering in. It's as if this is a noir made by people who were anti-noir.

Noir will always involve a clash between innocence and experience but it's not convincingly handled here. It isn't the first noir I'd make that complaint against, either - things like SHadow of a Doubt and Night of the Hunter have a similar unreal atmosphere.

In my opinion the best noir is both believable and hellish; like The Third Man, Double Indemnity, Notorious or Chinatown.